Flight Level 460!

Artist Proof from Limited Edition of 450
S/N by the Artist & Pilot Paul Bikle
Image Size: 21" x 15.5"
Paper Size: 24" x 18"

Plane Type: Schweizer 1-23H

Aeronautical engineer and soaring champion Paul Bikle was serving as Director of the NASA Fight Test Center at Edwards AFB in 1961, then in the midst of testing the revolutionary X-15 rocketplane. On the blustery afternoon of Saturday, February 21st that year, Bikle flew his specially equipped Schweizer 1-23H sailplane on tow from Fox Field in Lancaster, California and then released to ride the famed Sierra Wave to a world-record altitude of 46,267 feet above sea level - a record that stood until 1986. This original painting is in the permanent collection of the National Soaring Museum in Elmira, New York.

PLANE JUNKIE - Flight Level 460! by Mike Machat (Schweizer 1-23H)